I don't know if I need a new water heater or not. Every night, and only at night, after hot water is used the water starts coming out a rusty color. I'm wondering if this is from sedements at the bottom of the tank. The tank is over 15 years old. Is my theory correct? Any guidance/advice is appreciated!

What you can do is shut the water heater off, let it cool, and then connect a garden hose to the outlet at the bottom of the tank, and drain the tank to some safe place. This should wash all the sediment out of the tank, and could cure the problem. Most water heater manufacturers recommend that the tank be drained periodically, such as annually.

If the problem persists, then perhaps replacement is indicated, unless there is another cause of the rusty water, which is unlikely.

15 years is about all the life you can expect for a heater.
If you have old iron plumbing, steel fittings anywhere a line is run from the well or water source there will still be rust in the water even if you do change the heater.
If you do decide to change the heater and plan on staying in the home for a while concider changing to a tank less style or at least one with a high effeciancy rating. It will pay for it's self over time and if it's energy star rated there's a tax credit.

quote:

How can I get rid of brown/rusty water??

Nope, not using well. And I went all through the basement and crawlspaces and there is no galvanized pipe, at least for the pipes I can see (which is just about all of them). I know there are none in the first floor of the house because I already replaced all that pipe in the last few months, too. But here's what I noticed - on the floor near the boiler where some water was drained there is all this rusty sediment on the floor. There's a feed to the boiler from the water tank - could rusty stuff from the boiler somewhow be flowing back into the water tank? I shut off the feed to the boiler for the last 2 days and after initially flushing out the water heater, I haven't seen any more brown/rusty water out of any of my faucets yet. Could this be the culprit?
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